Political Participation of Immigrants through Voting and Representation: The Case of Norway (original) (raw)
Related papers
As immigrants are often under-represented in the political arena, in recent years, political participation of immigrants has become one of the most significant issues in many immigrant receiving countries in Europe. Based on secondary data, this paper has examined the political participation of immigrants in Norway through discussions of immigrants’ voting turnouts and representation in Norwegian local and national level elections. The analysis has showed that immigrants had a lower turnout and lower representation rate in both previous Norwegian local and national elections, when compared to native Norwegians. Indeed, voting turnout was significantly low in the case of non-naturalized immigrants with Asian, African, Latin American, and Eastern European backgrounds. For instance, whereas total voting turnouts were 59 percent and 61 percent respectively in the 2003 and 2007 local elections, in the case of immigrants these rates were only 25 percent and 28 percent respectively. On the other hand, in the case of representation, the analysis revealed that though immigrants had some representation in municipalities, at the national level their representation was almost negligible. There have been only 3 immigrant origin representatives in Norwegian Parliamentary history who were directly elected. Therefore, this paper has concluded that immigrants are underrepresented in Norwegian politics, considering the total immigrant population, voters, and their proportionate participation rates.
fsw.vu.nl
Electoral participation of immigrants is an important issue in Europe, particularly because immigrants vote less often than natives. This may suggest a lack of political integration and might result in proportionally lower representation in parliament, in turn affecting democratic legitimacy. This research analyses 8,132 immigrants in 24 European countries. We find that although the largest differences are at the level of the country of destination, the measured characteristics of the country of origin offer more powerful explanations. We conclude that immigrants from countries with more political and socioeconomic opportunities have a higher propensity to vote. Immigrants who live in countries with a higher economic development level also vote more often.
Finnish Journal of Social Research, 2014
Electoral participation of immigrants is an important issue in Europe, particularly because immigrants vote less often than natives. This may suggest a lack of political integration and might result in proportionally lower representation in parliament, in turn affecting democratic legitimacy. This research analyses 8,132 immigrants in 24 European countries. We find that although the largest differences are at the level of the country of destination, the measured characteristics of the country of origin offer more powerful explanations. We conclude that immigrants from countries with more political and socio-economic opportunities have a higher propensity to vote. Immigrants who live in countries with a higher economic development level also vote more often.
This paper compares participation in different forms of political action between natives , immigrants and non-citizen immigrants using data from thirteen European countries across six waves of the European Social Survey. The authors highlight problems associated with previous categorizations of political action, and find that when political action is disaggregated and relative participation between groups is examined , that immigrants' patterns of participation are not substantially different from those of natives. When comparing citizen immigrants to non-citizen immigrants, previous research has suggested that citizenship acts as a " ticket " to non-institutional, unconventional, confrontational forms of political action. The authors' findings instead suggest a more complicated relationship between immigrant/citizenship status and preferences for political action since citizenship may facilitate participation in both so-called institutional and extra-institutional activities depending on the context of action.
Immigrant Political Participation in Europe
Comparative Sociology
This paper compares participation in different forms of political action between natives, immigrants and non-citizen immigrants using data from thirteen European countries across six waves of the European Social Survey. The authors highlight problems associated with previous categorizations of political action, and find that when political action is disaggregated and relative participation between groups is examined, that immigrants’ patterns of participation are not substantially different from those of natives. When comparing citizen immigrants to non-citizen immigrants, previous research has suggested that citizenship acts as a “ticket” to non-institutional, unconventional, confrontational forms of political action. The authors’ findings instead suggest a more complicated relationship between immigrant/citizenship status and preferences for political action since citizenship may facilitate participation in both so-called institutional and extra-institutional activities depending ...
Democracy the Swedish Way? The Exclusion of'Immigrants' In Swedish Politics
Scandinavian Political Studies, 2007
Official declarations state that Sweden is today a multicultural society. At the same time, ethnic hierarchies have become increasingly conspicuous in contemporary Sweden. Recently, a governmental inquiry on structural discrimination in Swedish society presented a report analysing the relationship between the multi-ethnic composition of the Swedish population and participation in Swedish politics. This article discusses some of the main findings of the report. On the basis of a number of case studies, it illustrates how inequalities in terms of participation and influence in Swedish politics are (re)produced. One of the main conclusions drawn in the article is that all citizens that participate in Swedish politics are faced with a series of routines, conventions and idea(l)s categorising citizens according to their perceived closeness to a Swedish ‘normality’. Thus, democracy not only constitutes a formalised system of impartial procedures and conventions, routines and norms that regulate the political process in a way that guarantees freedom and equality to all participants. Rather, political participation also reflects exclusionary practices long well-documented in, for example, the housing and labour markets. In order to understand these practices, it is necessary to examine the historical interconnections between nationalism and democracy. By means of the recurrent characterisation of Swedish democracy as specifically Swedish, it becomes the job of Swedes to ‘enlighten’ the ‘immigrants’ to become ‘Swedish democrats’. This specific conceptualisation of democracy is founded on the ideal of an archaic national community, which in contemporary multi-ethnic Sweden is not capable of including the whole population on equal terms.